I step out into the hallway, my heart pounding with a mix of dread and defiance.When I reach the dining room, I spot Damiano talking to the man who was threatening Erin.The moment the guy sees me, he turns his cold gaze my way.I don’t hold back, glaring at him, but it is hard to ignore the way they both look in their dark suits—dangerous, lethal and all-too comfortable in their power.
Damiano’s eyes flicker with something I can’t quite place when he notices me.Then he strides toward me with that arrogant, possessive look on his face, and before I can take a step back, his arm wraps around my waist, pulling me into his side with an intimacy that makes my skin crawl.Or maybe he’s simply trying to prevent me from running.
“Lily, this is Teo.”Damiano’s voice is smooth, like he’s introducing me to a friend.
I glance at the imposing figure beside him, the same one who had looked at Erin like she was his next meal.
So, this is Matteo, the third member of Damiano’s trifecta, the enforcer.His eyes are as cold as his reputation, and when he steps forward, extending his hand, I reluctantly shake it.
“Hello, Lily.Nice to meet you.”The tension thickens in the air.I don’t bother with pleasantries.
“I wish I could say the same.But if you threaten my friend again, I will castrate you.”
For the briefest of moments, his lips twitch in what could almost be a smile, and a spark of amusement flickers in his eyes.“Then I shall be careful,” he says, his voice dripping with a strange calm.
Damiano leans in then, brushing his lips against my temple with a tenderness that makes my heart flutter in my rib cage.“I have to go, little flower,” he murmurs, and I hate the way the pet name twists something in me.“Behave.I’ll be back in a few hours.”
He gives Matteo a brief nod before he turns and walks out, leaving me standing there with the looming figure of his enforcer.
I wait a few heartbeats after he closes the front door before I rush there to try to yank it open, but it won’t budge.I can’t see any visible lock, but there’s some kind of screen.
“Don’t bother.The lock disengages with biometric recognition.”Matteo’s bored voice comes from behind me.I place my fingers one after the other on the pad and it lights up red every time.Not that I was expecting anything else.
When I finally give up and turn around, he is sitting on the couch with a glass of whiskey in hand and is flipping through the channels of the huge TV screen hanging on the wall.
I let out a frustrated groan, go over to join him and plop on the other end of the couch.
“Listen, I have some money.If you let me out it is yours.”He doesn’t even acknowledge me so I try something else.“Hey, can you lend me your phone?I need to…uh, look up something on the internet.”
He eyes me warily from the corner of his gaze.“You have your own phone.Just use it.”
I groan inwardly, but force myself to keep my cool.“First of all, it’s a basic phone with no internet, and secondly, it won’t work.My texts and calls aren’t going out.”
He raises an eyebrow, then looks at me with that infuriating calm.“You sent out a text?Let me look.”He taps away on his phone, completely disinterested in my discomfort.After a moment, he looks up.“Ah yeah, I missed that one.”He shrugs, typing again.“There.Your text got sent out.You’re welcome.”
My jaw drops.“Wait, are you screening my texts?”My voice rises in disbelief, and I can feel the blood rush to my face.
“Of course,” he says, completely unfazed by my outrage.“And also your calls.Do you think we’d let you communicate without supervision?”
I’m speechless for a moment, then shout, “I’m not a child.I don’t need supervision!”I want to stomp my feet.
At this point, I am looking for something heavy enough to bash his head in.Then I could cut off his thumb and use it on the fingerprint scanner like in the movies.The idea sounds more and more appealing.
But before I can set my plan into motion, the doorbell rings and Matteo jumps up to go to the door.Once he has checked the camera feed, he puts his hand on the scanner and the door opens.
Shit, I will need to cut off his whole hand and not only the thumb.
The door swings open, and in walks a tall, graceful woman, her presence commanding, like a whirlwind.She gives Matteo a playful pat on the chest, a signal of familiarity, before her eyes lock onto me.A brilliant smile spreads across her face, and she moves toward me with an enthusiasm I almost envy.
“Hello, hello!You must be Lily!It’s such a pleasure to meet you!”She’s practically bouncing with energy, her hands already reaching for me before I can react.“I’m Aurora, but you can call me Rory.I’m going to make you look absolutely fabulous, darling!”Before I can even offer a greeting, she wraps me in a hug that’s a little too enthusiastic for comfort.
I awkwardly pat her back, unsure how to handle her over-the-top warmth.“Hello, nice to meet you, too…”
Rory pulls away, scanning me from head to toe with the kind of scrutiny that makes me feel like a mannequin in a store window.“Let’s see what we have here… Hmm, hmm, yes!You’ve got the perfect frame for my selections.Absolutely perfect!”She turns to Matteo, who’s standing by the door, eyes amused, but not speaking.
At a quick nod from her, the door opens again, and a parade of people marches in, each one carrying garment bags, rolling racks of clothes or holding boxes stacked high with shoes.Within moments, the room is swamped.Clothes spill across every surface—the couch, the chairs, the table, hell, even the floor is littered with fabrics in every shade, texture and pattern imaginable.“Don’t worry, darling, we’ll make this quick,” Rory reassures me, though I can already tell from the gleam in her eyes that “quick” means something completely different to her than it does to me.
The room now feels suffocating, like I am surrounded by a chaos of luxury and fabric, and it is only about to get worse.Matteo quietly steps out of the condo, leaving us alone in this storm of dresses, skirts, blouses, coats, shoes and everything in between.
